Oct 20: Viewing Education Through a Racial Equity Lens
MEET DR. PATRICIA PAYNE, WHO WILL JOIN US
AT THE OCTOBER 20 PUBLIC FORUM OF THE
COMMUNITY FORUM FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE.
For 58 years, Dr. Payne has worked in the Indianapolis Public Schools district — pushing to make the district a more equitable place that meets the needs of all of its students, regardless of their skin color.
She spent the first 25 years as an elementary school teacher and the next 25 leading the district's multicultural education office, spearheading the development of a Black history curriculum, among other initiatives. She retired in 2014 – for about 30 days! She returned to the district as an IPS administrator on special assignment.
At 79 years old, Payne now directs the IPS Racial Equity Office. In June of 2020, the Board of Trustees of the Indianapolis Board of School Trustees adopted an exciting and historic policy that they titled “RACIAL EQUITY MINDSET, COMMITMENT & ACTION.”
The opening statement of the policy reads: "Racial equity refers to the condition that would be achieved if one’s racial identity, in a statistical sense, did not determine how one fares.” It is a commitment to distribute resources based on need and to eliminate “policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes or fail to eliminate them.”
Plan to join us on at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 20, to learn more about the IPS policy and the lessons it provides for our local school leaders as they develop a strategic plan for the future.
Use zoom to join from computer or mobile: https://iu.zoom.us/j/87327869125
The forum also will be live streamed on the Facebook page of the
Community Forum for Economic Justice.